Friday, April 20, 2007

Lemons, Albro are VSB's top picks for 4th Circuit

The judicial nominations committee of the Virginia State Bar announced its endorsements for seats on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the VSB’s Executive Committee meeting at Stratford Hall yesterday and this morning.

Committee chair Joe Condo, VSB President Karen Gould and several others met with Sens. John Warner and Jim Webb earlier this week. Condo said Webb was “delighted” with the format the VSB chose, naming potential nominees as either “highly qualified” and “qualified,” and including a detailed summary of the candidate's qualifications. Condo added that Webb pressed the bar to rank the candidates, but the VSB declined to do so, citing confidentiality concerns.

But Condo said that for the “highly qualified” candidates, the bar was providing the committee votes on those people, and that the senators could let those tallies be a reflection of any ranking.

The committee found three potential nominees to be “qualified.” The bar does not announce vote totals for candidates in this category. They are:• Virginia Supreme Court Justice G. Steven Agee• Richmond lawyer Orran L. Brown• William and Mary law school Professor Alan J. Meese